


You Are My Heaven

by Writeonthrough (Schroederplayspiano)



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Eleanor is Bi, F/M, Mentions of Tahani/Eleanor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 15:44:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16411331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schroederplayspiano/pseuds/Writeonthrough
Summary: A love story in four parts:When Chidi finds himself in Judge Gen’s quarters alone, he not only remembers everything from the last 300 years but realizes he’s not supposed to be here–at least, not without Eleanor. Back on Earth, Chidi’s absence ripples through the group–especially Eleanor who considers leaving everything behind (including her new relationship with Tahani) to find him.





	You Are My Heaven

Chidi’s eyes blink open to unveil the familiar Judge’s Quarters. At first glance around the room, it doesn’t seem odd to him that he recognizes his surroundings. As he scans the room, the usual nerves in his stomach begin to tighten, reinforcing the growing feeling telling him that he shouldn’t be here…at least not alone.

His gaze lands on it before his brain can process it: the burrito. The judge’s burrito. He’d seen a burrito on that same desk in that same position before. Nevertheless, Chidi steps towards it, the nerve ball in his stomach tightening as he stresses over whether the burrito itself is some type of test.

He stops himself suddenly when memories flood back to him:

 _"I’m not scared of any burrito_ ," Jason announced with confidence, " _I’ll eat it_." Then, Chidi remembers perfectly, Jason stopped suddenly—not unlike he himself did moments ago—and changed his stance completely while keeping the same foolish confidence; " _Unless the burrito is the judge!"_

Eleanor soothing voice comes back to him, " _We’ve certainly seen weirder things than an all-knowing burrito."_

Chidi starts to hyperventilate, but does not process it as he melts down against the wall into a muddled ball on the floor—succumbing to more than 300 years of memories of her:

 _Attempt #1_  
_"Somehow, I never want to leave you. I want to stay in the Good Place because of you. Because I love you."_

_~*~*~_

_"I was dropped in a cave and you were my flashlight."_

Attempt #83:

_"Where are you going?" She followed him out his bedroom into their kitchen as he carried a bag full of his stuff. "You can’t leave."_

_"Eleanor, don’t make this harder than it already is," he pleaded with her sadly._

_"Why not? This is the bad place, after all. Michael thinks we’re torturing each other anyway."_

_"Oo-Oh," He hoped down the ledge without stairs to the living room. "Way to take those ethics lessons to heart. You’ll never get into the Good Place with that attitude."_

_"Chidi—" She raced down to him, placing herself between him and the door. "Look, you’re right, Okay? I’m sorry…I just don’t understand. Why are you doing this? Why do you want to leave me?”_

_"Eleanor…" he started, baffled and when he noticed her innocent, vulnerable expression he knows he can’t finish._

_"Just tell me what I did that pissed you off so much and I promise not to do it anymore," she paused, realizing what she just said. "Well, I’ll try really, really hard."_

_"Eleanor…"_

_"Just tell me what I did."_

_He tried to tear himself away from her, but couldn’t. His trapped in her vulnerability and realizes he couldn’t leave her even if he wanted to._

_"You didn’t do anything," he finally stated, dropping his bag so both his hands can reach out towards her face._

_He guided her face to his and captured her lips with his. After a moment, she pulled away, surprised. She stared at him and his stomach instantly tangled up into knots._

_She blinked, raised a finger to feel her lips for a moment—and then flung herself at him; reaching her arms around her neck and wrapping her legs around his torso._

Attempt #102:

_He waited for her to come home from her date with Tim. He read the same page of Plato book twenty times by last count. He could not understand why he could not focus—and the confusion about why he couldn’t focus was causing him more anxiety than his lack of focus._

_“Chidi?” He heard Eleanor from behind him. “What are you doing here?”_

_“Hey,” he tried to act casual. “How was your date?”_

_“Eh,” she shrugged. “Fine.” Reaching down to her ankles, she undid the high heels straps and flung them to a corner of the room._

_For some unexplained reason (which caused him further anxiety), he found the action adorable._

_“To be honest,” she spoke with her back towards him, making her way to the kitchen for a snack. “I’d rather have spent the time in class with you.”  
_  
_He perked up then, becoming finally aware of the faster heartbeat in his chest and thus the cause of his anxiety. “Really?” He asked, standing._

_She scoffed behind the fridge door. “At first, I was surprised too, but then I realized—and I did so on the date, mind you, goes to show how boring he was—I realized I always would rather spend my time with you than Tim…or anyone here.”_

_Eleanor turned from the fridge to Chidi leaning on the kitchen island, nervously playing with an orange he’d taken out of the fruit bowl. “Really?” He asked again._

_“Really,” she assured him, putting down her yogurt and kissing him on the cheek._

_He froze at her touch, watching her open a drawer for a spoon but not processing the actions._

_“You never answered my question.”_

_“What?”_

_“What are you doing here, Chidi?”_

_He moved to her side of the kitchen island, gently removed the spoon from her grip and pulled her towards him. His arm curled around her head and she leaned back into the curve of his elbow as he kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him, sinking into their kiss._

_“I’m here to tell you I don’t think you should date Tim.”_

_“I don’t think I should date Tim either.”_

Attempt #755

_"I don’t think we should move on from Aristotle yet," Eleanor told him across the kitchen island. She pushed her test closer to him and as she did so he could smell the lavender from her shampoo. It relaxed him. "I clearly didn’t master the material."_

_He glanced between the ‘B’ on the test and her concerned expression. "I know you told me you weren’t a good student…but you know a B is a good, passing grade, right?"  
_

_"Our souls on the line here, Chidi.” She met his gaze, revealing her earnestness to him. Caught up in her sincerity, he was unaware of the coming sneeze tickling his nose. "I can’t just be able_ be _able to pass a test on Aristotle and then forget the material," she absentmindedly plucked a tissue from the box on the kitchen island and offered it to him right before he sneezed. "I have to be a master of Ethics—like you."_

Only now, hundreds of years later did Chidi remember the compliment. At the time, his mind went fuzzy—drunk on the realization that she had anticipated his needs in a way that no one on Earth ever did.

Four nights later, in that same reboot, they walked along the lake together:  
  
_"On the other hand, why should we even continue the lessons? We’re all in the bad place anyway, so what does it matter?" In the middle of his surrendering speech, he managed to look at her did a double take of her expression. Instead of judgment, she was concerned. Instead of indifference, she was filled with warmth and empathy._

_Eleanor took his hand, sharing her warmth with him. "It matters."_

_He looked down at their joined hands, enjoying the feeling, but not sure what to do with it. Instead, he resorted to reacting to her words and not his feelings. He shook his head, turned from her and started walking again._

_She remained still, watching the distance between them increase, pulling their arms further apart as he walked away. Eleanor steadied herself in his strong grip, giving it a squeeze rather than letting it break them apart._

_He turned back at the pressure. Her wondrous expression glowed in the moonlight. A soft breezed danced through her hair and sent ripples over the lake._

_"It matters, Chidi. Your lessons matter and you matter." He tried to look away, but her gaze followed. "You make me a better person. You do. And—and I know you have a tendency to overthink things, I’m not going to tell you to stop being you—but some things you don’t need to overthink. Some things are simple." Eleanor paused to let her words sink in. “It matters—you and me, your lessons—It matters to me and it’s that simple."_

_Chidi blinked and took Eleanor in one last time before moving closer. He reached for her other hand, entangling their fingers, and extended his neck to capture her lips. The kiss was soft and sweet and perfect._

_They broke away and smiled, not moving from the spot. Eleanor released their hands to stroke his cheek. He closed his eyes at her touch. She whispered softly to him, "Whatever happens, I hope you remember you don’t need to worry about us." He raised his gaze to meet hers, wondering how she could possibly be saying the words he always needed to hear. "You never need to worry."_

A month later they discovered Mindy’s.

_"This place doesn’t seem too bad," Eleanor told him. "What we just stay here forever?"_

_"Just the two of us?" He asked, uncomfortable with making such a major decision in front of a stranger. Mindy smiled at his cuteness which made him more anxious._

_Picking up on his emerging anxiety, Eleanor stumbled over her words. "I-I mean, we could—if you wanted to—I-I_ mean, _if that’s okay with Mindy."_

_Mindy looked up from her magazine and scoffed, "Hey, as long as we agree on how to share the space. I’m cool with that…Beats you guys being rebooted over and over and explaining everything to you over and over again." She looked between the pair—remembering the camera she’d set up in her bedroom. "I’ll tell you what," she tossed the magazine on the coffee table. "Why don’t I leave you two alone and let you figure out what you want to do." She stood and started towards the door. "I’ll be back in an hour or two." She left with a knowing twinkle in her eye._

_After a few moments, Eleanor_ lean _back against the old couch. Chidi put his arm across its back, but did or said nothing else._

_"We can go back for Tahani and Jason," she offered, mind-reading his worry. “I know it’s selfish to stay here without them."_

_At her comforting words, Chidi inched his fingers into her hair. "Would you really be okay with that? Wouldn’t that risk us being rebooted again?"_

_"Well, yeah…" she turned him and their eyes search each other. "But are you really okay staying here without them?"  
_

_"Yes," he surprised himself, but then the "No," quickly followed. "I don’t want to decide that right now"  
_

_"Okay," Eleanor softly accepted. "What do you want to do?"_

_Chidi thought for a moment; but like usual, his thoughts rushed fast and increased his anxiety. Instead, he focused on his fingers which were now softly running through her hair. She leaned into his palm and looked at him deeply._

_Before he let another thought stop him, he leaned down for a kiss. She met his lips eagerly, once, twice, three times—then wrapped her arms around him as she lowered herself down to lie on the couch, guiding him over her. He matched her intensity, happy to keep the focus on them, on her._

_Once she started to tug his shirt off, he finished for her. A "Damn, you’re jacked," escaped her lips before he captured them again. As he relished in the feel of her touch on his skin, he hands moved down to the hem of her shirt._

_She broke their kiss to catch her breath, giving Chidi better access to her neck, of which he took advantage. As he kissed his way down it, Eleanor suggested, "We do have the whole house to ourselves. Do you want to find the bedroom?"_

He did. And they found it quickly. When they finished, Chidi remembers how he stroked her arms as she rested her head on his chest:

_"I don’t know what’s going to happen to us, but I need to tell you something…I love you." Before he had the chance to respond, she continued, "And you don’t need to respond ‘cuz I know you have trouble saying how you feel—"_

_"I love you too."_

Attempt #790

_“It’s very simple, Eleanor. Cups go on the top rack of the dishwasher and plates go on the bottom…Please tell me why that is hard for you to remember!”_

_She retreated for_ moment _, not used to him yelling at her. She swallowed, examining him with_ new _perspective, and then returned with full force. “It is simple, Professor Uptight. Remembering is not the issue. I just don’t care. You asked me to put the dishes in the dishwasher. I did. Now, you’re complaining about how I did you a favor. Forget it! If the dishes bother you so much, you do them!”_

_Chidi puffed his chest out in anger, causing Eleanor to focus there instead of on his words. “Sharing chores is part of the Good-Person-Thing I thought you were working on…Or did you forget that too?”_

_Eleanor’s disbelief his completely missing the point was the only force strong enough to tear her gaze away from his chest. “I didn’t forget anything,_ smart-ash _. I did share the chores. I was a good person. You are the only one making this complicated. If you just accepted things the way they are instead of winding yourself up over Every. Little. Thing. you wouldn’t be so annoying to be around!”_

_His eyebrows lifted. “An-annoying to be around? Me? You’re the one who’s disrupting the peace. And yet, I am here, trying to help you. All I ask is that you do the forking dishes!”_

_“Genius, I. Did. The. Forking. Dishes.” She stood her ground. “Pick another reason to be mad at me, ‘cuz I’m not falling for that one.”_

_“Just One?” He retorted, bulging his eyes at her. “Everywhere you go, a disaster soon follows. You’re the one causing the endless grinding in my brain. You. No one else here. I worry about you—making sure I protect your secret from Michael. I think about you—what is that made you into a bad person, yet a person who is honest and wants to do better? I can’t figure you out.” He bites his lip and finds a softer tone. “I can’t forking figure you out…”_

_“Chidi…” she whispered, breaking him free of his rant. They looked intensely at each other for a moment and the next—she’s reaching for him and he pulls her in, unable to resist her any longer. He deepened the kiss and lifted her up to sit on the kitchen island._

Attempt #802

 _“Hi Jason,” Janet appeared in the Judge’s Chamber. “I love you.”_  
  
_Chidi didn’t think he could be any more shocked as Janet continued to speak. “…My excuse was that I needed time to evaluate my complex feelings, but that was just a rationalization. This might be the last time I ever get to talk to you, so there it is—I love you.”_

_As Chidi looked across the room at Eleanor, he realized she was saying everything his mind had thought about Eleanor…everything he wished he could tell her now._

_Determined and confident in his decision, he marched across the room to Eleanor, placed his hands on her soft cheeks and pulled her towards him, kissing her with fervor._

_“Hot Diggy Dog!”_

Earth

_“Uh, you and Simone had some real Professor Dork vibes flowing. You’re both teachers who are hot for teacher,” Eleanor squeals. “How have you not asked her out yet?”_

_~*~*~_

_“Thank you again for bullying me into asking her out,” He told her after describing his date with Simone._

_“Well, I owed it to you,” she replied, happily._

_~*~*~_

_“My whole life has been a torture chamber of indecision,” he professed to her. “And now I’m finally on the path to understanding why, and the only reason that’s happening is_ because you _walked into my office and you said you wanted to become a better person. That was really brave.”_

_~*~*~_

_“Eleanor?” Searching the entire campus for her, he walked into the journalism classroom without knocking._

_A posh English accent exclaims, “Oh my word!”_

_Tahani and Eleanor break apart from their tight embrace, allowing Eleanor to frantically cover up her bra with her shirt._

_Chidi quickly covered his eyes in respect. “Sorry. I’m so sorry!”_

_As his eyes are covered, he couldn’t see Eleanor’s casual reaction to his intrusion. “Whatzup, Teach?”_

_“Never mind, I’ll ask you later.”_

_~*~*~_

_As he and Eleanor walked across Sydney Harbor Bridge together, he watched a gust a wind blow through her hair and down across the water, sending ripples through the water._

_"Are you happy?" He asked her._

_"Happy?" Eleanor looked at her, surprised at the question. "In the face of our eternal damnation, I haven’t really thought about it."_

_"Well," he shrugged, casually. "Think about it for a moment, then."_

_He watched her stop and think for a whole minute, a slow smile emerged on her face._

_"Yeah, I think so," she focuses on him rather than where she’s going, drifting over the pedestrian walking line and onto the street as she did so, "How ‘bout you? Are you happy?"_

_Before he could answer—or even think about his answer, a car’s headlights caught the attention of his peripheral vision._

_"Eleanor! Watch out!" He grabbed her elbow and spun their positions to take her place._

~*~*~

The last thing he remembers is Eleanor screaming his name before the car ran him over.

“Chidi?” Judge Gen stands over him—or rather—the emotional ball of his body that’s curled on the floor, still drowning in memories. “What are you doing in my chambers alone?” He barely registers her question as he tries—and fails—to sit himself up.

“Is Eleanor alive? Is she okay?”

“Yes,” she declares, and the good news allows him to sit up. “But Chidi,” she leans down to look him in the eye. “That’s the whole problem here.”

He drops his head with a groan, “What…?”

“You know, you are disrupting my binging time. I don’t like to be bothered while admiring Mark Harmon.”

“Judge—”

Still looking down at him, she crosses his arms, “You’re not supposed to be here, Chidi. You’re early.”

He manages to push himself up at her last words. “Wait. I’m what?”

“You’re early, Chidi.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it ♥︎ Comments make me happy :)


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